Glass Jars

This week on "Wonderful World of Etsy" I bring you a selection of pretty glass jars, whether it's for the gorgeous photography or the brilliant pieces like the mason jar chandelier. I love a glass jar and have quite a few, from ribbon spool filled apothecary jars and soap filled bird jars to candy filled jars. What do you keep in your glass jars?

• Bonbon 8x8 print
• Summer nights mason jar chandelier
• Fine art print from Contessa set
• Tropical jelly beans - fine art photography
  

Have a sweet day!

Primrose & Plum

This week for my 'shops i love' page, I bring you Primrose and Plum, where I bought my third bird apothecary jar that I featured yesterday.

Primrose and Plum is a small independent boutique run by best friends, Selina and Lisa. Their style is an eclectic mix of vintage glamour, classic rustic and stylish contemporary. The website is clear and informative and everything is beautifully styled and photographed at many angles so you can see the texture and quality of their hand picked items. Each item has been picked for it's uniqueness and because they love it!

On my wish list is the retro glass bottle with cream ceramic lid: a stylish way to store my fabric conditioner, perhaps?

Have a sweet day!

Pretty cloakroom apothecary jars

I have had my two larger bird apothecary jars since last November when I ordered them on holiday in Florida from Modern Chic Home. At Christmas they were filled with coconut mushroom candy and chocolate sticks for my Winter Woodland themed dessert table. At Easter they were filled with pretty pink and blue M&M's and hand made chocolate butterflies for my Easter table. The rest of the time they have been carefully stored away. Not anymore! I finally will have a permanent home for them when they are placed on a shelf in my new laundry room and cloakroom.

After much deliberation as to what would look good and be useful in the bird apothecary jars, I filled the tallest one with hand wrapped soaps to match my colour and print theme that I showed you a couple of weeks back. For the shorter one I bought spotty emery boards from Cath Kidston and floral emery boards form Poundland. I like to display items in odd numbers, so I bought a third bird apothecary jar from Primrose & Plum. Choosing what to fill this one with was tricky but eventually I went for my small pink dotty hairbrush and hairbands to match my colour theme. Now I wait patiently for the room to be decorated so I can add my decorative touches!

Have a sweet day!

Pretty pink sweets

Today in my series of posts "Inspirational Pins", I bring you some pretty pink sweets. Writing this post has got me thinking that I really need to get back in my kitchen and whip up some pretty coloured sweet treats, like pearly pink macarons filled with raspberry gananche. I am also dying to have a go at cake pops now that I have the know-how after reading Pop Bakery by Clare O'Connell.

• Macarons and mini teacup cake from The Cake Parlour
• Cake pops
• Strawberry cream filled sandwich cookies

Have a sweet day!

Washi Tape

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you pretty washi tape with these gorgeous pics. I have been decorating and playing with my washi tape and love how easy it is to transform basic items. Check back soon for some more of the most inspirational photographers on Flickr.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites (clockwise from top left):

• The wonderful wrapped cookies in Untitled by Ishtar olivera ♥
  
• The lovely colour in Masking Tapes by Casa di Falcone
  
• The simple storage in Inspirational Supplies by Beauty Spot
• The pretty array of prints and colours in blog group of tape by ♥ paper pastries
  

Have a sweet day!

Pop Bakery by Clare O'Connell

This month I'm reviewing Pop Bakery by Clare O'Connell, from illustrated lifestyle publishers Ryland Peters & Small and CICO Books. Clare O'Connell, along with her daughter, Judith, is the owner of Pop Bakery in West Hampstead, London.

I chose to review this book as I love cake pops. Hailed as the new cupcake, cake pops are small moist cakes coated in candy on lollipop sticks. Claire, too, loves cake pops and wanted to create her own versions. For Claire cake pops were the ideal medium for her to share her creative flair and love of baking. After work experience in a combined bakery and confectioners for a year Claire started her business, Pop Bakery, from her family home in West Hampstead. She supplies Harvey Nichols and boutique hotels across London and was recently commissioned by Top Shop to make cake pops for their Launch Party in Bath, England.

The front cover of this hardback book says "25 recipes for delicious little cakes on sticks". I would argue that it contains one recipe of a chocolate cake pop with 25 different ways of decorating them.

Each beautifully photographed decorated cake pop has clear step by step instructions on how to create the cake pops, from moulding the cake to hand painting them. It contains some great advice on ingredients, tools, equipment and stockists. The book covers a variety of styles, from the funky on-trend leopard print ones to the cute panda & frog heads with varying levels of difficulty. Each gorgeous looking cake pop is beautifully photographed by Nicole Rees.

The only downside to this book is that it only provides one recipe for the cake pops.
At a recommended price of £9.99, I think this hardback book is a good introduction to cake pops and how to decorate them.

Some of my favourite cake pops:

Cute Panda heads

Whimsical toadstools for woodland themed parties!

Fun bright frogs

The stylish leopard print cake pops inspired by nail artists

To summarize, Cake pops is a good decorating book for cake pops with great tips and advice.

Please note that my opinions are my own and I am not paid for these reviews (apart from receiving a free book, of course!).

Have a sweet day!

Food Gawker - Macarons

I recently discovered foodgawker via the ever so popular, beautiful blog Made by Girl. Boy am I in love!

From the website:
'foodgawker is a photo gallery that allows you to visually search and discover new recipes, techniques and ingredients to inspire your culinary adventures. We publish food photography submitted by food bloggers from around the world. Our editors review hundreds of submissions daily and choose the highest quality, most appealing images to showcase.'

The photographs are beautiful and link to some brilliant bakery and foodie blogs. What's not to love? A new passion that will keep me occupied for hours - I have warned you!

They also have three sister sites, each full of beautiful photos. From great craft projects on craftgawker, inspiring interior pics on dwellinggawker and fabulous wedding ideas on weddinggawker.

Have a sweet day!

Edible sugar decorations

This week on "Wonderful World of Etsy" I bring you a selection of gorgeous edible sugar decorations from Andie's Specialty Sweets. The flowers are exquisitely detailed and come by themselves for you to decorate your sweet treats with, or crafted into a necklace: how much fun is that! I love the pretty array of colours the peppermint candy buttons come in and the strawberries are so much fun.

• Edible candy necklace
• Peppermint candy buttons
• Edible sugar strawberries, blossom and leaves
• Romantic edible sugar blooms

Have a sweet day!

An Angel at my Table

This week for my 'shops i love' page, I bring you An Angel at my Table; a store I have loved for such a long time for their beautiful birdcage mirrors. I have the birdcage noticeboard on my kitchen wall painted in a pretty duck egg blue to match the facing wall!

An Angel at my table is a family run business: six people and one dog! They started life in 1997 as a shop in Essex, England selling painted furniture and French style accessories. They then moved to the countryside to concentrate on their labour of love, sourcing and designing the most exquisite English and French furniture along with the most stylish interior accessories with a difference!

The accessories section is whimsically laid out with categories such as 'Whiter shade of pale' which has the cutest white house tea light holders, Boho crochet throws and white porcelain swallows to decorate ornate white plaster frames with. 'Exotica' is full of brightly coloured bird cushions, bird wall sconces and butterfly plates. In the furniture section there are great painted wooden dining chairs that can be custom painted in the colour of your choice. I've got my eye on the classic English fiddleback chair, which I would love in duck egg blue!

A great store with so much eye candy!

Have a sweet day!

Laundry Art

I am busily getting everything ready to decorate our new laundry- and cloak-room. Last week I showed you the candy coloured bead hangers and the pretty wrapped soaps. Today I am showing you some of my laundry art I want to put up on the walls.

I originally bought two pink baroque picture frames from Urban Outfitters; buy one get one half price! I then had to decide what to put in them. As there is going to be quite a lot of different prints in the room from, pale blue floral towels to a bird print curtain and rose printed dusters I wanted something quite graphical.

I liked the idea of them having something to do with the laundry room so went for care label meanings. I went back to Urban Outfitters and bought two more frames, one in pink and one in duck egg blue as I'd decided I wanted three of them (maybe the extra one can go in my kitchen?). I coloured the artwork in a pale blue to match the blue in my towels, soaps and prints.

Feel free to right click the below pics and print them out for yourselves.

Floral bathroom highlights

Today in my series of posts "Inspirational Pins", I bring you some pretty bathroom floral highlights. For more cute floral bathroom ideas check out my floral bathroom ideas Pinterest board.

• Pip Studio
• Welbeck Tiles
• Bathroom with vintage unit

Have a sweet day!

Decorative glass jars

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you some pretty decorative glass jars with these gorgeous pics. Check back soon for some more of the most inspirational photographers on Flickr.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites (clockwise from top left):

• The wonderful display of Bon Bon Jar with Rose Wreath by Vintage Amethyst
  
• The sophisticated looking apothecary jars by ohleah
  
• The prettiest Fabric covered glass jars by a a m s
• The beautiful close up of apothecary jars by ohleah

Have a sweet day!

Pretty wrapped soaps

We have started work on our new laundry room and cloakroom. So, after months of looking around the internet for cute, pretty ideas I have started to get my interior accessories ready! Don't you just love the part where you get to accessorize a new room?

I thought my bird glass apothecary jars from Modern Chic Home would look great in my cloakroom and would match my bird trail fabric blind (which I have yet to make!).

Today I am sharing with you my large bird apothecary jar that I have filled with hand wrapped pretty soaps and mini Cath Kidston guest soaps in colours to match my bird trail fabric. I decided it would cost me a small fortune to fill my large glass apothecary jar with the pretty Cath Kidston soaps so I bought a pack of pure vegetable soaps form Waitrose that were wrapped in white paper. I then wrapped two in blue polka dot wrapping paper, with a band of lace tape, pink polka dot ribbon, finished off with blue rik rak. Another two I wrapped in floral wrapping paper with a band of pink and white striped ribbon and a further two in pink polka dot wrapping paper.

Cath Kidston wild flowers guest soap collection

Have a sweet day!

Friday Feature - Kirsten Jones

Welcome to my new series of posts, Friday Feature. This week I am sharing with you the delightful work of painter, Kirsten Jones. I first discovered Kirsten's work at the Affordable Art Show on King's Road several years ago. I treated myself to one of Kirsten prints called "Blue Bikini" as I was designing swimwear at that time. I can't wait to hang it in my new laundry room!

Kirsten Jones was born in Hartlepool in 1968 and grew up on the island of Jersey before moving to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England where she gained a B.A. Hons Fine Art Degree.

"Kirsten is inspired by 'collections' of treasured objects and their remembered or imagined histories. Each piece has a subtle narrative,which she creates by collaging vintage envelopes, stamps, dictionary text and maps. These clues evoke memories of the places objects were found or bought. Once the collage stage is complete, Kirsten paints over the richly layered surface using gesso, inks and washes of acrylic paint."

She currently resides in Berkshire where she also runs Barn Acre Gallery, holding biannual exhibitions showing her full collection of prints and new paintings along with up to 50 other invited artists.

Happy Friday sweets!

Aqua soaps

This week on "Wonderful World of Etsy" I bring you a selection of some pretty aqua soaps to add a pop of colour to your bathroom or cloakroom. My favourite has to be the adorable bird soap; no surprise there!

• Beach days button soap
• Photo camera soap
• Bird soap - set of three
• Ginger pear creamy mango soap

Have a sweet day!

Silver Leaf Mirror Giveaway by Juliette's Interiors winner

My contest ended yesterday and I just picked a winner using random.org and I am delighted to announce the winner of the Silver Leaf Mirror Giveaway by Juliette's Interiors is...

Drumroll please? Without further ado, the lucky winner is...

Sharon, of the wonderful blog My passport to style, who would hang it in her dressing room. Please e-mail me your details.

Congratulations Sharon, you will receive a Silver Leaf Mirror Giveaway by Juliette's Interiors

Thank you to all of you sweets that entered, to my loyal followers and new friends.

Have a sweet day!

Folly & Glee

This week for my 'shops i love' page, I bring you Folly & Glee. They sell a wonderful collection of Danish wrapping papers, bags and tags along with the prettiest crochet hangers, bakers twine and vintage patchwork interior treasures.

Have a sweet day!

Hand beaded hangers

I was looking for some cute hangers for my laundry room to add a pop of colour, so thought I would have a go at beading some wire dry cleaning hangers I had lying around. I bought a selection of beads in pink, blue, green and white to match my bird trail curtain fabric. The beaded hangers were quick and easy to make and I love how they turned out. I think they look like candy, and if you're a regular reader of my blog you know how much I love candy!




Hand beaded hangers
What you will need

• White wire hangers
• Pink beads
• Blue beads
• Green beads
• White beads
• Hot glue gun

Instructions

1. Carefully untwist hanger
2. Thread beads onto hanger until full of beads
3. Twist hanger back together
4. Thread beads onto neck of hanger
5. Hot glue gun last bead in place